Timeline: Robert Koch, 1843–1910

Robert Koch was a German doctor and researcher who discovered the causes of tuberculosis, cholera, and other diseases. Koch made major contributions to the germ theory of disease by advancing the idea of specific etiology, which states that each disease is caused by a specific agent. Together with Louis Pasteur, Koch is considered one of the founders of modern bacteriology and microbiology.

Koch obtained his medical degree in 1866 from the University of Göttingen, and worked as a physician in various communities and as a surgeon during the Franco-Prussian War.

Koch's first research breakthrough involved the study of Bacillus anthracis, the bacteria that causes anthrax. In 1863, Casimir Davaine had shown that sheep anthrax was caused by rod-shaped bacteria in the blood. Koch isolated Bacillus anthracis from blood samples and grew them in culture, and saw that the bacteria formed endospores which remained dormant. This discovery solved the mystery of why animals could become infected with anthrax after grazing in unused pastures.

Koch and his team invented devices and techniques that later became widely used in microbiology, including improving staining and purification techniques and concocting better growth media, such as agar plates.

In 1882, Koch announced that he had isolated and grown the bacteria responsible for tuberculosis. This work won him the 1905 Nobel Prize.

Koch spent years traveling around the world studying various diseases and epidemics. After investigating cholera outbreaks in Egypt and India, Koch discovered that Vibrio cholerae caused the disease, and that the organism was transmitted via drinking water, food, and clothing. He also studied bubonic plague, sleeping sickness, leprosy, surra, rinderpest, Texas fever, and malaria.

To determine if a microorganism was the cause of a disease, Koch formalized a set of criteria known as Koch's Postulates, which are still used today. Koch's Postulates state that to establish a microorganism as the cause of a disease:

In 1885, Koch became the professor of hygiene at the University of Berlin. From 1891 to 1904, he served as the director of the Royal Prussian Institute for Infectious Diseases, which is now the Robert Koch Institute. Koch died on May 27, 1910.

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